Stay Awhile
by Roslyn Drycof
Summary: Draco asked for a place to hide from the world the RoR gave him an island. Harry asked to hide for awhile the door disappeared. Add concerned friends, rivals forced to work together, sexual frustration, and it's magic. HPDM BZRW SLASH, AU 6th yr


Warning: This is SLASH. This means boy/boy action. Also: angst, talk of suicide, mild violence, lots of swearing, moderate sexuality

Pairings: Harry/Draco, Ron/Blaise

Rating: Currently T...will be M before the end of the series

Parts: Estimated at 6

Summary: Draco asked for a place to hide away from the world; the RoR gave him an island. Harry asked to hide for awhile, and the RoR took away the door. Add concerned best friends, rivals forced to work together, and you've got a magic combination exploding into romance. HPDM, RWBZ, AU 6th yr

* * *

Stay Awhile

Chapter One - Refuge

By Roslyn Drycof

Waves lapped the shore and the sun's early morning rays warmed the pristine sand. The wind was light, but washed over the lone figure on the beach, playing with strands of his white-blond hair. A pair of shoes with socks scrunched up inside lay discarded by his feet, kicked off nearly as soon as he'd arrived. His robe also lay discarded, along with his rucksack and tie.

Draco Malfoy was comfortable. He knew the sun was turning his nose pink, a phenomenon that he would have trouble explaining to his housemates. He also knew that he had sand in his pockets, and in every wrinkle of his clothing, and that his hair was in dire need of a comb. Yet he did not care, and made no move to make himself presentable. Yes, breakfast was almost over and NEWT Potions was starting in fifteen minutes, but he

merely stretched out his arms to cushion his head and shut his eyes.

He did not want to face the world at the present, and rather wished he did not have to face the world ever again. Of course, that was impossible, as one could not just live on an isolated island for the rest of their life, even if that island was simply a magical creation of the Room of Requirement. He would have to leave his refuge soon, and face the fact

that he had a familial duty, and that he would probably die because of it.

However, I can stay here a little longer...he thought, letting the soothing sound of the ocean waves lull him to sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, far away from the Room of Requirement, another scene was occurring that was far from peaceful. 

Harry Potter angrily shot to his feet, rattling the dishes at the Gryffindor table as he did so. His emerald eyes were blazing, and the copy of the Daily Prophet tossed haphazardly onto his plate of eggs and hash burst into flames.

"Harry!" his bushy-haired best friend cried out, her gaze caught on the burning newspaper.

He ignored her, climbing over the bench and striding towards the doors of the Great Hall. How dare they print something like that? How dare they imply that Harry was being swayed to the Death Eater cause? He has given up everything for the wizarding world, to stop Voldemort, and this was how they thanked him?

A growl escaped his lips and he pushed open the doors angrily, letting them slam against the walls with a crash. He had to get away. He couldn't face anyone just now. He directed his steps towards the staircase, in the opposite direction of his first class.

Ron stared at the place Harry had been occupying moments before, grimacing. That article had been well over the top, and Harry was rightfully angry. But did he have to set things on fire? The ashes covered his breakfast, making it completely inedible.

"Ron, you have to follow him!" Hermione demanded from his left. He sighed. "Do I have to? He's going to be fine...just let off some steam."

"What if he decides that letting off steam means blowing up the common room?" she replied, crossing her arms.

Eurgh. Now that would be fun to clean up. "Why don't you go after him then?"

She picked up her fork and speared a sausage link that was ash-free. Lucky for her, the ash hadn't reached her plate. "I'm the only one who takes notes in class, so I can't miss it. You're also larger, in case you need to physically restrain Harry from doing damage."

Ron gaped at her. He could understand her point about the notes, but how the hell did she think his size would help him if Harry was going through a magical outburst? He opened his mouth to tell her he wasn't going and that was final, but she chose that moment to turn her gaze on him. The icy warning in those usually warm brown depths chilled him.

"Fine. But I'm not studying tonight and you can't make me," he huffed, grabbing a piece of her toast and going after Harry.

Jogging, he managed to catch sight of his wayward best friend in moments. Harry was heading up the staircase that led to the seventh floor, where the Room of Requirement was located. Ron grimaced. This could turn out to be worse than if Harry were to torch the common room. Who knew what Harry could wish for in the Room of Requirement!

He decided that it would be best to simply follow Harry and confront him in the room, as it would be more private than the corridors that would be soon filling up with students. Slowing his steps to a fast walk, he shoved Hermione's toast into his mouth and quietly followed the raven-haired boy.

* * *

Blaise Zabini was worried. Draco hadn't been in the dorm when he'd woken up, and neither was he at breakfast. While Draco usually disappeared in the mornings before breakfast, he never actually missed the morning meal. With his fast metabolism, Draco loved to eat and actually needed to eat something every few hours or he'd lose weight. 

He barely noticed the Boy Wonder storming out of the Great Hall, nor his bumbling sidekick following. Instead, he was mentally calculating where Draco could be at this time of day. The Astronomy Tower? No, it was too cold in the mornings and Draco liked warmth. The Quidditch Pitch? Again, it wasn't warm enough being as it was the middle of November. The Potion's room? No, he'd had an argument with Snape the night before and was still furious with the man.

So where could he be?

Frustrated, he tossed back the remainder of his goblet of apple cider and left the Slytherin table. Pansy made some protest about class starting soon, but he waved her off. Draco was more important than class, especially considering the fact that he'd recieved an owl the night before from his father. Letters from Lucius Malfoy were never good, and always managed to send the Malfoy heir into a snit.

He wandered the halls of the school until he reached the seventh floor. It was there that he suddenly remembered the room he and his blond-haired best friend had found the week before. The room granted a person a place for any purpose they wished. When they had found it, they had wished it to be a place where they could have fun where they wouldn't get caught. The room had provided them with sumptuous couches, many wizarding games and numerous bottles of alcohol. They'd spent several hours getting completely trashed.

Blaise figured that Draco might be hiding out there, and he worried that perhaps Draco had wished for something dangerous. Perhaps somewhere he could harm himself? Blaise didn't think Draco would inflict harm on himself, but that letter the night before had sent him into the blackest mood he'd seen since Potter had managed to get into the Triwizard Tournament in fourth year.

As he turned the corner to the corridor that held the Room of Requirement, he saw Potter reaching for the door handle that had suddenly appeared. Weasley was several steps behind him, and looked like he was intending to sneak in behind him. Blaise rolled his eyes. It was obvious that Potter knew Weasley was behind him, and yet Weasley apparently thought he was being sneaky.

"Ron, don't follow me," Harry stated, opening the door and disappearing inside the room.

What did Weasley do? He followed him.

Blaise didn't really feel like following the Gryffindors into the Room of Requirement, but he knew Draco just had to be in there and that meant that he would be all alone with the two people who hated him most. He couldn't let his friend face those idiots alone!

Using his Slytherin sneakiness, he slipped through the doorway just before the door shut behind him. He didn't notice as the door disappeared, because he was stunned to find that he was a standing on the beach of a small island.

Since when did Draco like sand?

* * *

Draco woke up to find himself staring up into the narrowed eyes of one Harry James Potter, and blinked several times. Was this a nightmare? 

He sat up and looked around. No, he was awake and on the beach of his personal refuge. So why was Potter here? Oh, and look, there was Weasley standing behind the Boy Wonder with a bewildered look on his freckled face. And then further behind him there was...Blaise?

"Great, welcome to the party everyone," he muttered, brushing sand from his trousers.

Potter raised one inky black eyebrow, interestingly enough in a distinctly Slytherin manner. Draco would have to have a talk with him about that. Only Slytherins were allowed to use Slytherin mannerisms, and since Potter was definitely not a Slytherin, he was infringing upon copyright. "Potter, you can't just steal the Slytherin Eyebrow Raise."

A second eyebrow followed the first. "You patented the Eyebrow Raise? Ridiculous."

Draco scowled, rising to his feet and planting his fists on his hips. "No, not ridiculous. It's a well known fact that only Slytherins are allowed to do the Eyebrow Raise, the Death Glare, and most importantly, the Smirk." Potter smirked then, and it wasn't just the Slytherin Smirk. It was the Malfoy Smirk. Draco growled. Potter's lips twitched, but the smirk remained. "Malfoy, I'll let you in on a secret. I was almost sorted into Slytherin."

Not possible. The Boy Who Lived could never have been even close to being sorted into Slytherin House. But as Draco looked into the Gryffindor's hard eyes, he realized that perhaps it wasn't so incredible sounding as he'd thought.

He pursed his lips. "Even if that is true, you are not a Malfoy and so you may not perform the Malfoy Smirk unless with my express permission...which I have not given."

Potter shook his head, his smirk dissolving into a disbelieving grin. "You're bonkers, you know that?"

Draco crossed his arms and used the Death Glare. Unfortunately, that tool had never been effective on Potter nor his friends and thus the effect was lost. He called out to Blaise, aware that his voice sounded more than a little petulant, "Blaise, get over here and tell Potter I'm completely sane!"

Blaise strolled across the sand, stopping in front of the pair and pulling off his shoes. He grimaced as he shook the sand out of them. They would need to be polished immediately. "While I honestly cannot say that you are completely sane, Draco, I must say that you are much saner than Pothead here."

Draco didn't know whether to thrash his friend, or grin. He settled for smirking at Potter. Potter, however, didn't look angry. Instead, he looked amused. "Oh I don't know, I'd say that Malfoy and I are about even in that department."

A snarky retort was ready to fall off Draco's lips, but Weasley had to butt in just then. "Harry, don't even joke about something like that! Malfoy's definitely an insane, evil bastard!"

Draco's retort turned into a growl. "Stuff it, Weasel. I'm not evil, and even if I were, it's better than being dirt-poor and the boyfriend of a Mudblood."

"Don't call her that!...and I'm not dating her," Weasley shouted, his freckled face turning the color of a ripe tomato.

The melody of Moonlight Sonata suddenly burst into the air and Draco ushed up his left shirtsleeve to turn off the alarm on his watch. "As much as I'd love to continue this lovely conversation, I must be going. I can't miss Potions."

Quickly, he bent down to put his socks and shoes on, shrugged his robe on, and slung his rucksack over his shoulder. He saw Potter staring at him, and he frowned. "What?"

The green-eyed Gryffindor shrugged. "Didn't think you'd be so concerned about missing the one class you're guaranteed an E in."

Draco answered Potter as he jogged towards the place where he'd entered the Room of Requirement earlier. "Just because Snape is my godfather doesn't mean I don't have to work to get my good grades."

Potter snorted in response, but Draco ignored him. He was too busy trying to find the door. Where was it? It was supposed to be right there!

"Where's the door?" he asked, starting to worry. He looked all around him, but there was no trace of anything even resembling a door.

It was Blaise who answered, his voice unsure. "I think it disappeared behind me."

Disappeared? Impossible.

"Impossible," Potter's voice rang out, "It never disappears."

"Then where is it?" Weasely asked, spinning around to see if he could see it anywhere.

A frown furrowed Potter's eyebrows, making him look slightly constipated. "Uh...I don't know."

Draco pressed a hand to his temples. "It was there when I arrived, so one of you fuckwits had to do this."

Potter suddenly paled, and Draco felt the distinct urge to strangle him. "What did you wish for?" he asked, his voice going soft with menace.

"Somewhere I could disappear to for awhile."

Draco stared at him. "That's all? That's close to what I wished for, and I still had the door! You have to have thought something else, you stupid arse-"

A cough interrupted the start of what could have been a brilliant rant. Blaise stepped forward, brushing a lock of his dark hair from his eyes. "Awhile. He said awhile. To the room, that could mean any length of time."

Silence descended on the four boys, and they stared at each other in horror. Any length of time? That could mean anything from an hour to something like ten, twenty years!

"Oh shit," Potter murmured, sinking to the sand.

Yeah. Shit.

* * *

A/N: My defense is that I was attacked by a particularly vicious plot bunny in the middle of my philosophy class today. Then I spent my time at work, usually spent randomly surfing the internet, writing what you have just read. I realize that I have a few stories that I should be updating, but I can only write what my plot bunnies tell me too. They wanted the boys on a deserted island with no one to interfere but themselves. So I appeased them. I have most of the story mapped out, and it is going to be about six parts long. I originally intended for Harry and Draco to be alone, but I quickly realized that it wouldn't be much fun and too much like "stuck in a broom closet together" or "stuck in detention" stories, and while I love reading those, I wanted to put a spin on the trapped together scenario. Thus, I added the two concerned best friends, Blaise and Ron. Hermione might have been a good choice to partner Blaise, but I can't help but feel that it is too typical, and Blaise serves much better as slashy boy. Besides, I haven't experimented with a slashy Ron as of yet, so this is my try at it. 

I am disregarding most of the sixth and all of the seventh books in this story. While there is a plot bunny trying to get me to write a story after DH (disregarding the epilogue, however), I don't have the details ironed out and so I'm not even going to attempt something like that yet. There will be no mention of the horcruxes in the fic, and the only mention to the 6th book is the mention of Draco's duty.

As a note to readers faithful to my other stories, I am forced to put Spirit of the Veela on hold for awhile. I am dissatisfied with how the chapter I've been working on his going, and so I will not attempt to write something that will turn out like crap. I will probably have the new chapter up by 2008, although I can't promise anything. Regarding To Be Insane, Or Not To Be Insane, I will have a new chapter up by December. In This World So Wrong will hopefully be update within a month.

Please review this story, as reviews help the plot bunnies. They are the elixir of life to the plot bunnies, and so the more elixir given to the bunnies means they attack me more viciously and force me to write. Thanks ahead of time!

* * *


End file.
